Manteo Middle School and First Flight Middle School were able to learn a great deal about rain gardens this past week thanks to Sara Hallas, coastal education coordinator at the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s Wanchese office, Reilly Kelly, AmeriCorps member, and a grant from the Community Foundation. Six classes of seventh-grade Manteo Middle School students monitored…

All three regional offices took field trips to special coastal places in May, helping North Carolina students more fully experience the state’s beautiful coast. Many of these students had only seen the ocean and/or a salt marsh a few times, and some had never seen these environments before. Part of the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s…

The North Carolina Coastal Federation and partners unveiled the Lower Cape Fear River Blueprint on Tuesday at the UNC-Wilmington Center for Marine Science. Approximately 120 people attended the Lower Cape Fear River Blueprint Open House, where they learned more about the goals of the blueprint, current research and programs focused on the Lower Cape Fear…

Local Boys & Girls Club groups have learned a lot about the North Carolina coast this year thanks to a multi-week education program developed and run by AmeriCorps Member Kristin Gibson. Gibson, who is the AmeriCorps member at the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s Ocean office, visited the Boys & Girls Clubs of Coastal Carolina in…

More than 30 people attended a behind-the-scenes tour of the Swan Island Oyster Sanctuary project Monday, getting to see up-close how materials are prepared for construction of the site. The day started with a visit to the North Carolina Port of Morehead City, where chunks of granite are delivered by truck and then loaded onto…

Native plants are again available for purchase at the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s headquarters office in Ocean. Stop by any time between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday to purchase coastal native plants that will brighten up homes and yards while also providing habitat for birds, butterflies and other animals. Native plants make for beautiful…

May 8 marked the fourth public meeting for the Lake Mattamuskeet Watershed Restoration Plan. The lake is considered unhealthy and is listed on the state 303(d) list for impaired waters. For the past year, a team of concerned people has joined together to develop a plan that will restore the lake’s health and improve conditions…

CARTERET COUNTY — Construction on the second phase of the Swan Island Oyster Sanctuary began this month as crews started moving granite from the port in Morehead City to the project site. Construction on the 10-acre sanctuary — which is located in Pamlico Sound near the mouth of the Neuse River — started May 11. It is…

On April 30 the North Carolina Coastal Federation hosted 37 volunteers at the Bradley Creek Elementary School rain garden for Work on Wilmington, a communitywide event to promote partnerships and community service. During the event, volunteers worked in the rain garden mulching, weeding and performing overall maintenance. One group put on waders and removed cattails,…

Staff in the North Carolina Coastal Federation participated in two events recently that were focused on getting girls interested in math, science and technology. The first event, Girls Exploring Science and Technology (GEST), was on April 14 at the Duke University Marine Lab. GEST brings together researchers from a number of STEM institutions to inspire…

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH — The North Carolina Coastal Federation is working with the Town of Wrightsville Beach, the City of Wilmington and community partners to implement projects that will reduce the volume of polluted stormwater runoff affecting these neighboring coastal communities. These projects are funded by the North Carolina Clean Water Management Trust Fund (CWMTF) and…

The North Carolina Coastal Federation staff spent a busy weekend celebrating Earth Day last month, with multiple events going on in all three coastal regions and in the Triangle. Earth Day is always full of events that get people outside and experiencing the coast, and federation staff are always excited to participate in the many…

Veronica Carter, a long-time North Carolina Coastal Federation board member, has been appointed to the Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board, which will advise the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Secretary Michael Regan created this panel to help DEQ involve and engage disadvantaged and minority populations in its decision-making processes. Carter has been involved in promoting…

Over the course of four days, staff at the federation’s Wanchese office educated approximately 600 students on living shorelines, marine debris, water quality and much more. The week full of education events kicked off at Manteo Middle School on April 24 and 25, when Sara Hallas, coastal education coordinator, and Reilly Kelly, AmeriCorps member, visited…

SWAN QUARTER — The fourth public meeting about the Lake Mattamuskeet Watershed Restoration Plan is on May 8 and will cover strategies that are being explored by the planning team. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Hyde County Government Complex in Swan Quarter. The agenda is available here. The goal of the watershed restoration plan is to provide…

This story has been updated with additional numbers from the April 19 bagging event in Wilmington. A total of 87 volunteers worked with the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s Wrightsville Beach staff for two oyster bagging events in April. The bags of recycled oyster shells and gravel granite will be used on a future living shoreline…

With funding from Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership, the North Carolina Coastal Federation teamed up with River City YouthBuild to install several stormwater retrofits at the Shoppes at Renaissance Square in Elizabeth City on April 18. River City YouthBuild, run by River City Community Development Corporation, provides education and employment skills for economically disadvantaged young adults aged…

The UNC-TV show Exploring North Carolina featured the North Carolina Coastal Federation in an episode that aired April 19. The episode is the third in a four-part series titled “Water in NC: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.”

HOLDEN BEACH — At last night’s Board of Commissioners meeting, the town of Holden Beach revoked all of its applications for a terminal groin at the east end of the town. The five town commissioners voted unanimously to revoke the applications. The North Carolina Coastal Federation has been against the terminal groin since it was…

During Dare County Schools’ spring break, the North Carolina Coastal Federation hosted a full day of oyster-focused learning at its Wanchese office. This day was just one event in a month-long celebration of science hosted by UNC’s Morehead Planetarium and Science Center. The eighth annual North Carolina Science Festival will host 676 science-based educational events…

On Tuesday, April 3, 14 volunteers from Cape Fear Realtors volunteered with the North Carolina Coastal Federation in the rain gardens at Alderman Elementary School for Realtor Action Day. Volunteers performed maintenance on the rain garden, which typically consists of removing invasive plants, pulling weeds, removing debris and spreading mulch. The 2018 event marked the fourth year…

With just a month to go before the North Carolina General Assembly’s short session, Gov. Roy Cooper got an early start on what will be one of the biggest issues of the 2018 session — how to respond to the water pollution issues raised by the GenX pollution problem in the Cape Fear region. On April…

In summer 2017, the North Carolina Coastal Federation began the construction of a 300-linear foot living shoreline at Camp Albemarle on Bogue Sound. The project is now only a few workdays from being completed. Camp Albemarle is one of the public living shoreline locations chosen for funding through the federation’s three-year National Oceanic and Atmospheric…

Fourteen local waterfront property owners gathered on March 29 at the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s Ocean office to learn how living shorelines, an environmentally friendly alternative to bulkheads and seawalls, could help them control shoreline erosion. The workshop — led by Dr. Lexia Weaver, coastal scientist, and Rachel Bisesi, coastal education coordinator — was designed…

A new book about the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s work to help organize local efforts to protect important places on the North Carolina coast has recently been published and is available at nccoast.org/savinggreatplaces. Glenn Blackburn, professor emeritus of history at University of Virginia’s College at Wise, wrote “Saving Great Places” based on interviews he has…